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Woman of the Dunes (15)

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum Presents..

A woman and a man lay in sand dunes together.

Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman of the Dunes (1964) is a haunting existential drama that delves into the primal struggle for survival, identity, and freedom. 

The film follows an entomologist (Eiji Okada) who, while on a research trip, becomes trapped in a remote desert village, forced to help a woman (Kyōko Kishida) endlessly shovel sand to prevent their home from being buried. 

Teshigahara’s stark visuals and avant-garde style amplify the oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere, turning the vast desert landscape into an allegory for the human condition—one of entrapment, desire, and the cyclical nature of life.

Screened in conjunction with Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum’s It Will End in Tears, Woman in the Dunes shares a thematic resonance with the exhibition’s exploration of isolation, time, and the body’s relationship to its environment.

1965 Japan dir Hiroshi Teshigahara 124 min

£10.40

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